Analysis of The Ghost: Book III (excerpt)
Charles Churchill 1731 (Westminster) – 1764 (Boulogne-sur-Mer)
...
Horrid, unwieldly, without form,
Savage, as ocean in a storm,
Of size prodigious, in the rear,
That post of honour, should appear
Pomposo; fame around should tell
How he a slave to int'rest fell,
How, for integrity renown'd,
Which booksellers have often found,
He for subscribers baits his hook,
And takes their cash--but where's the book?
No matter where--wise fear, we know,
Forbids the robbing of a foe;
But what, to serve our private ends,
Forbids the cheating of our friends?
No man alive, who would not swear
All's safe, and therefore honest there.
For, spite of all the learned say,
If we to truth attention pay,
The word dishonesty is meant
For nothing else but punishment.
Fame too should tell, nor heed the threat
Of rogues, who brother rogues abet,
Nor tremble at the terrors hung
Aloft, to make her hold her tongue,
How to all principles untrue,
Nor fix'd to old friends, nor to new,
He damns the pension which he takes,
And loves the Stuart he forsakes.
Nature (who justly regular,
Is very seldom known to err,
But now and then in sportive mood,
As some rude wits have understood,
Or through much work requir'd in haste,
Is with a random stroke disgrac'd)
Pomposo form'd on doubtful plan,
Not quite a beast, nor quite a man,
Like--God knows what--for never yet
Could the most subtle human wit
Find out a monster which might be
The shadow of a simile.
...
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJKLLMMNNOGPHQRSSTTLUVC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 101011 10110001 11010001 1111101 110111 1101111 11010001 1101101 11010111 01111101 11011111 01010101 111110101 010101101 11011111 1101101 1111011 11110101 01010011 11011100 11111101 11110101 11010101 01110101 11110001 11111111 11010111 0101011 10110100 11010111 1101011 1111101 111101001 11010101 111101 11011101 11111101 10110101 11010111 01101 1 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,421 |
Words | 244 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 42 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,057 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 244 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 15, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 52 Views
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"The Ghost: Book III (excerpt)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5072/the-ghost%3A-book-iii-%28excerpt%29>.
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